I’ve been reading Maggie Mason for years and have found myself particularly inspired by her Mighty Life List. For years I have wanted to create my own, but it hasn’t been easy. I’m so not a big picture thinker. I’m reactionary, malleable, adaptable, a go-with-the-flow kinda gal, if you will… all about the journey, not so much the destination, and all those clichés. It’s hard to envision the things I want to accomplish in life when I am so enthralled with uncovering those mysteries that present themselves to me daily.
Sure, there are always those things that, when I hear about them, I think, “Wow, that would be cool… ” But, with few exceptions, I forget about them almost as soon as I hear them. I’ve become so fascinated with collecting a Mighty Life List that’s it’s hard to envision stopping long enough to actually plan one.
You know those Strengths that I’ve been babbling on about for a while now? Well, if you were to study up on how to lead a person with my particular combination, one of the first things a leadership book would tell you is, “Be ready to excuse this person from meetings about the future, such as goal-setting meetings or career-counseling sessions. He [she] is a ‘here and now’ person and will find these meeting irrelevant.”
A, and men.
Okay, not completely A, and men. I don’t find goal-setting completely irrelevant. I kinda like the feeling of checking off something on my to-do list every now and then (when I remember to make one). Not to mention that I believe in the power of claiming something by putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard, as the case may be). And there’s that whole “hitting 40 soon” thing that has me questioning how much more of a legacy I could build if I started planning it a bit.
So, I’ve started planning a bit. After months of mulling it over, I’ve started my own Mighty Life List. And, to get the ball rolling, I renewed my domain for another year in hopes of prompting myself to start documenting this quest. If nothing else, this will surely be a grand experiment in whether or not documenting one’s goals actually makes a difference.
Here’s hoping…
